I have a question. Many times I've heard japanese people say (I love You) 愛してる. But... why? I would say 愛している as the している form is continous. Why do Japanese people omit い? And... When I mean I LOVE YOU could I just say 愛する or do I have to use the continous form? The same with for example 何を見てるの? Could I say 何を見ているの? Why is the い imitted? Is it just like... slang or sth? I cannot understand it

The way I understand it, ～してる is basically the contraction for ～している in the same way that "do not" and "don't" or "I will" and "I'll" are related. It's more casual/slang-ish contraction.

Use of ～している is a bit more difficult to explain. You use it when the emotion/action/state of being is still continued/connected in the present and still relevant. まだ、食べていません is "I haven't eaten yet" and the ～て＋いる shows its connection to the present. As in, you hadn't eaten before and at this moment you still have not eaten. So, 愛してる means "I love you (and still love you right at this moment)". I think that would be more technically correct than just 愛する but that's not to say it's incorrect. Don't quote me on that, though. There are plenty of uses for ～ている and lots of nuance to it sometimes I'm sure someone could explain it better than I can, but I think that's the gist of what you're asking at this moment. I know your frustration well, heh.

Last edited by Figurethree on Wed 06.02.2010 11:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

Hi, I'm a native Japanese studying English. The している is polite than the してる.I don't use してる in any instruction manuals for my customers. Because it's sound casual and not polite. But to be honest, I often use the してる talking to my friend.You can find the してる in scenes of conversation or blog.Sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet. I cannot understand where is for it.

Last edited by Setaceau on Tue 06.08.2010 12:13 am, edited 1 time in total.

愛する has a nuance of "I don't love you yet, but I try to do so from now."If you said only 愛する to someone, it would sound strange. As if you decide it now or you promise it. I mean "I will love you."

The best 7(sorry not 10) of "I love you" are here. These are only my opinion and I have no girl friend. Only for reference.

[female] 1. 好きです。 natural and popular 2. 好き。 natural and casual 3. 好きよ。 sound like tender but enhanced the mean including the nuance "I hope you understand it." 4. 愛しています。 very polite and natural (I recommend it for the first time) 5. 好きになっちゃった。 sound like pretty (nuance is hesitating to say so) past tense shows "I realized that I love you already." 6. あなたのことが好きなの。 sound like explaining but natural. The nuance is "I want to understand it" あなたを is not natural in this case. あなたが is natural and あなたのことが enhance あなた "I love you, not the others, only you." 7. 愛しているのよ。 nuance is "You should know how much I love you."[male] 1. 好きです。 natural and popular 2. 好きだ。 manly^^; 3. 好きだよ。 sound like tender but enhanced the mean like you should know it 4. 好きなんだよ。nuance is "Don't you know it how much I love you?" 5. 愛しています。 very polite and natural (I recommend it for the first time) 6. 愛しているよ。 natural and polite and enhanced 7. 君のこと(を)愛してしまった。 It sounds like I have a mistake to love you^^;, but it means inevitable to love you because you are very beautiful and .... Including like that nuance. Therefor it's not sound rude and still sounds natural. But depends on.

Basically, Japanese doesn't want to say I love you directly. It's shameful for us.But, of course, we can say it hesitating.Anyway, recently we rarely use ほれた except asking someone, or explain to someone.彼女に ほれた のか? means Do you love her?一目ぼれ(HiToMeBoRe)なんだよ。 Yes, I love her since I met her only once.彼女にほれたみたいだよ means I'm sure I love her.If you say ほれた to someone directly, it sounds very casual and it means, "I like you", but not I love you. 好き is also too casual and it could be "I like you." And Japanese prefers to use uncertain one^^; especially in the shameful case.